<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Logical Homes by Vorta_Scholar</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25710985">Logical Homes</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vorta_Scholar/pseuds/Vorta_Scholar'>Vorta_Scholar</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Post-Nemesis [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: The Next Generation (Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canonical Character Death, Friendship, Grief/Mourning, Hurt, Movie: Star Trek Nemesis (2002), Post-Movie: Star Trek Nemesis (2002), Sad</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 09:42:23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,031</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25710985</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vorta_Scholar/pseuds/Vorta_Scholar</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After Data's death, Geordi is faced with the task of sorting through his belongings. Before he can enter, however, he needs a little help from Lieutenant Barclay.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Data &amp; Geordi La Forge, Data &amp; Spot (Star Trek), Reginald Barclay &amp; Data, Reginald Barclay &amp; Geordi La Forge</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Post-Nemesis [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1864726</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Logical Homes</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Geordi sighed. He’d been standing outside the door for nearly a minute now, thinking about what he had to do, and dreading doing it. Similar instances had come to pass, but this time was different. This time was real. The task he hoped he’d never </span>
  <em>
    <span>really </span>
  </em>
  <span>have to face was at hand. But before he could do it, there was one thing he had to take care of.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He touched his communicator.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“La Forge to Lieutenant Barclay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <b>
    <em>“Barclay here.”</em>
  </b>
</p><p>
  <span>“Meet me outside,” he paused, clearing his throat, “Commander Data’s quarters.”</span>
</p><p>
  <b>
    <em>“Aye, sir. Barclay out.”</em>
  </b>
</p><p>
  <span>He leaned his back against the wall and closed his eyes. When he did, he saw him, saw that one last look, and every look before it, in succession, every glance, every exchanged nod, every smile. It killed him, reminded him he’d never get that back, never get to say the things he’d been holding onto, and even worse, it reminded him that he was the one who let Data go. He was the one who helped him go.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Commander,” Barclay said a few moments later, pulling him back into the here and now.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Reg,” he said, pushing himself off the wall. “I, uh…” He looked at the door, then at Reg, who was standing there, uncharacteristically still, and quiet. “There’s something I need your help with. You see… God, I feel ridiculous. I can’t go in there until somebody gets that cat.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He chuckled, shaking his head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I understand,” Reg said with a sad sort of smile. “I’ll do it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks, Reg,” Geordi said, and he punched in the security override code to unlock the doors, which whirred open a moment later.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Spot was lying asleep on a blanket on the end of the sofa. She didn’t stir when the door opened, but stayed asleep, her body rising and falling heavily as she breathed, dreaming of whatever it is cats who’ve spent their entire lives on a starship dream about.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reg entered the room, and approached her slowly. He sat down beside her, and reached out a hand to gently stroke her head. Geordi watched in amazement as she opened her eyes, stood, and climbed happily into Reg’s lap, rubbing her face on the front of his uniform. He wrapped an arm around her body, holding her close to him as he petted her head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can come in now, Commander,” he said, and Geordi stepped into the room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The doors whirred shut again behind him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s pretty crazy,” Geordi said as he made his way over to the desk. “You know, I think you’re the only person besides Data who she actually likes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’s a sweet cat,” Reg said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe she just senses that I’m not much of a cat person,” Geordi said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He opened the drawer of Data’s desk and started to pull things out, trying to think of what he should do with them. He hated the idea of sending any of it to matter reclamation, and although most everything of Data’s had some kind of sentimental value (whether Data would have admitted as much or not), there were a few things that just weren’t the kind of thing that would mean anything to anyone but Data. His Shakespeare collection would go to Captain Picard, who gave it to him, of course. Geordi would take his pipe. Deanna would be given the holo-image of Tasha Yar. Certain things had logical homes. But then there were things like the handful of small, handheld Vulcan puzzles, and his plants, which existed solely for decoration or to pass the multitude of free time Data had in his off-hours. Those would be harder to place, and equally hard to dispose of.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Geordi found himself looking again at Spot, who had now fallen asleep in Lieutenant Barclay’s lap, holding the arm he’d been using to restrain her between her front paws.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Reg,” he said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, Commander?” Reg responded quietly, so as not to wake Spot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think Data would want you to have her,” he said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” Reg said. “I, uh… I would love to have her come stay with me. If you’re sure.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sure,” Geordi said, smiling a little. “She can’t come live with me, and I can’t think of a better place for her than with you. I’m sure Data would agree.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reg let out a small airy laugh, and he smiled as he looked down at the cat sleeping in his lap. “Okay,” he said. “Thank you, Commander.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you, Reg,” Geordi said, and he opened the next drawer. “It makes me feel better knowing she’ll be with someone I know will take care of her, and who she’ll be happy with.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a long silence, broken only by the sound of drawers sliding open and closed, and Geordi setting things gently on the surface of the desk, until finally, Reg spoke again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you think she knows?” he asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Geordi closed the last drawer. “I don’t know, Reg. I don’t know if she’ll ever know. If she’ll ever really understand what happened. You know?” He sighed. “I think she’ll feel his absence. She’ll notice he’s gone. She’ll probably even look for him at first, once it sinks in.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reg nodded, and he blinked a few times, trying to push back the tears that were just starting to well up in his eyes. “Yeah, probably,” he murmured.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But I think that’s where a lot of us will be, too, for a while,” Geordi said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think so, too,” Reg said. “It just...it doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t feel real.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Geordi stood slowly, and made his way over to Data’s closet. He opened it, and inside found fourteen clean, identical uniforms, a dress uniform, four identical pairs of boots, and at the very back of the closet, his Sherlock Holmes outfit. His stomach started to hurt, and he closed the door again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know about you, Reg,” Geordi said, “but I think that’s enough looking for now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He looked at Reg, who nodded, still petting Spot’s head, which was resting in the crook of his arm.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You wanna get something to eat?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure,” Reg said. “We can come back to this later.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>It's book-canon that Spot goes to live with Worf after Data's death, and that sort of makes sense, since she went to stay with him previously when Data was going through a rough patch, and I like the bit about him growing fond of her and saying she has the heart of a warrior, but I always thought it would have made a lot of sense for her to have gone to live with Reg, especially since he was the only person on the Enterprise besides Data who she was nice to.</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>